Tuesday, October 18, 2011

MIST Suzuki Stop Smoking to join the TTXGP World Championship 2012

Hot on the heels of the 2011 TTXGP World Championship race, the following announcement was sent out naming a new team joining the race series for 2012. MIST Suzuki Stop Smoking is expected to compete in the European series.

Going by their blog post they're planning to build their own electric superbike.

They appear to have been duly impressed by the Laguna Seca race during which the top bike (Mission Motors) turned in lap times within shouting distance of the MotoGP bikes. Team owner Mike Edwards said “We’ve long been converts to the benefits of electric motorcycle racing. 2011 was a landmark season with the fastest electric bike qualifying just ten seconds off Jorge Lorenzo’s pole position time in the MotoGP race at Laguna Seca. That’s a huge step and I can’t imagine any electric cars getting that close to F1 cars anytime soon. With technology progressing at the current rate we are confident that gap will start to close even further and look forward to building a competitive bike that will help set new benchmarks in electric motorcycle racing. It is tremendously exciting as there are few opportunities outside of the MotoGP race paddock where can you design and build a complete machine from a clean sheet of paper.”

MIST Suzuki Racing are pleased to announce the team has reached agreement with Azhar Hussain MBE, founder of the TTXGP electric motorcycle championship, to build an electric motorcycle in time for the 2012 championship and to compete in the European, and hopefully the World, championships. Making the switch from the long established fossil fuel powered racing to the emerging world of renewable green energy is a big step but one the team are looking forward to making.

Team owner Mike Edwards said "We've long been converts to the benefits of electric motorcycle racing. 2011 was a landmark season with the fastest electric bike qualifying just ten seconds off Jorge Lorenzo's pole position time in the MotoGP race at Laguna Seca. That's a huge step and I can't imagine any electric cars getting that close to F1 cars anytime soon. With technology progressing at the current rate we are confident that gap will start to close even further and look forward to building a competitive bike that will help set new benchmarks in electric motorcycle racing. It is tremendously exciting as there are few opportunities outside of the MotoGP race paddock where can you design and build a complete machine from a clean sheet of paper.".

TTXGP founder Azhar Hussain was equally enthusiastic: "We are incredibly pleased to welcome the MIST Suzuki team to the TTXGP family. They bring with them world class motorsport experience from WSBK and BSB. We believe MIST are a fantastic example of what can be achieved when TTXGP integrates it's technical support with the passion and motorsport heritage that Mike and his team bring to the next generation of motor sports. Their involvement brings us closer to our goal to have the most competitive and thrilling grid anywhere in the world for clean emission zero carbon racing.".

MIST bring with them a number of highly experienced technical partners, ranging from chassis design and build expertise to the MotoGP and World SuperBike race paddock, class leading electronics firms looking to develop their top SuperBike products for the electric bike market plus a number of battery and controller experts from other highly experienced electric vehicle manufacturers.

Mike added: "We are holding talks with a production company about making a documentary on the design and development process, showing the project from it's inception through the build and testing to the first race of the season. We have some world leading electric motor and battery expertise in this country and, when combined with some of the extremely talented motorcycle chassis designers, the goal has to be to use the combined talent of our team and our partners to fly the flag for British engineering and technology on the world stage."

"We also plan to continue the development of the World Superbike spec. Suzuki we have been building this season and will use it as the benchmark for both the electronics and handling targets for the new project. We may even complete a WSB wild card or two to help publicise the TTXGP entry.".

Team owner Mike Edwards, one of the original founders of the MiniTwins race series, set up MIST Suzuki Racing to provide a path for young riders to reach the top levels of international racing. The path led from points scoring finishes against factory supported teams during their three year tenure as one of the largest British teams in the World SuperBike paddock, to podium finishes, race wins and multiple lap records in the British SuperBike Evo class. The team was accepted to compete in a number of wild card races at World SuperBikes in 2011 but had to postpone their plans until the following year due to issues obtaining the necessary parts in time.

About TTXGP

TTXGP, the eGrandPrix is an international race series providing a high profile platform for the development of electric vehicles. Using motorcycles as a resource effective development platform, TTXGP enables the futuristic technology behind them to be tested in an exciting and challenging way. TTXGP aims to drive low carbon technological innovation forward, to demonstrate that clean-emission transport technologies have matured and can be fun, fast and exciting.